For a Girl Becoming

In this tale from a powerhouse creative team, a family welcomes a child with an empowering and fiercely affectionate blessing to guide her growth.

“The day your spirit came to us rains came in from the Pacific… // and all of us who loved you gathered, where / Pollen blew throughout that desert house to bless, / And horses were running the land, hundreds of them, / To accompany you here, to bless.” And so a newborn baby girl with “black hair, / Brown eyes,” and “skin the color of earth” joins a protective community that spans the heavens and earth. Page turns skillfully capture the passage of time, and as the child grows, she’s enjoined to move through the world with compassion and meet both joys and hardships with show more determination. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Harjo’s (Mvskoke Nation) fluid and impassioned second-person text circles back effectively to reiterate its enveloping missive, then appears in full at the book’s end. Pura Belpré Award winner Garcia’s dynamic and richly layered portraits deftly echo the poem’s movement. A palette of vibrant turquoise and leafy green depicts the child maturing and thriving, while immersive double-page spreads in tawny hues seamlessly incorporate Native elements throughout. A standout among affirming picture books, this beatitude-inducing work will quickly become the new go-to baby present.

A stunningly illustrated, tender, and tenacious message—a boon to any bookshelf. (Picture book. 4-8)

-Kirkus Review show less

Muskogee-Creek poet and musician Joy Harjo returns to the world of children's books with the lyrically-told, beautifully-illustrated For a Girl Becoming. An extended poem addressed to a young woman on the edge of transformation, of some unnamed rite of passage, it celebrates the day the girl's spirit came into the world, the day her family and friends "urgently gathered" to welcome her, bringing the gifts of both her mother's and father's houses. Adjuring her not to forget where she came from, or who she is, to be a human being to "grieve with the grieving, share joy with the joyful," someone who builds "a strong path with beautiful and truthful language," it concludes, like a benediction: "You are here to bless."

Harjo's beautiful poem show more affirms the love of family and community for the girl (and through her, the reader), assuring her that she will have guidance and support in her life journey, and gently reminding her of those things which are most vital to a well-rounded life. Mercedes McDonald's accompanying illustrations are simply gorgeous, with deep, vivid hues, and dreamlike composition. As Debra Frasier, author of On the Day You Were Born, notes in her comment on the back cover, For a Girl Becoming is truly a blessing! I wish I knew some young woman approaching a milestone in her life - a graduation, a first journey away from home - that I might give her a copy. I will certainly keep it in mind, for future use! show less

beautiful art

The book described how a girl becoming, and how they could get everything they need from daily life.